Commonly assigned co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 597,323, filed Apr. 6, 1984 in the names of Brian J. Joseph and Thomas K. Hilbert discloses a ribbon blender for use in a development station of an electrographic copier/duplicator or the like. The ribbon blender of such application includes a shaft with a plurality of rods projecting therefrom. Inner and outer ribbons are coiled around the shaft and secured to the rods. When the shaft is driven, the ribbons are rotated to move and mix developer material in the development station. The ribbons are helical in shape and the outer ribbon is spiraled in one direction while the inner ribbon is spiraled in the opposite direction so that developer material is moved in opposite directions by the two ribbons to thereby thoroughly mix the toner and carrier particles comprising the developer material.
Manufacture of the ribbon blender disclosed in the before-mentioned patent application may present certain problems. More specifically, the ribbons must be accurately shaped and carefully secured in place to the rods projecting from the central shaft so that the helixes formed by the ribbons are concentric with the shaft. This requires careful fabrication of the ribbons and accurate attachment to the rods, and also requires separate rods secured to the shaft for supporting the ribbons.